NCTE Presidential Team

NCTE President Kylene Beers

Kylene Beers is Senior Reading Advisor to Secondary Schools, Teachers College, Columbia University, and Chair of the National Adolescent Literacy Coalition. Beers edited NCTE's Voices from the Middle from 1999-2006, and was an inaugural member of the NCTE Middle Level Section Steering Committee.

Beers says she wants “to be a strong and effective voice—not only to teachers but to the public and leaders in government—about the work of the Council. If, at the end of four years, I’ve realized that, then I’ll leave this position with a sense of accomplishment.”

Beers has authored several books including When Kids Can't Read/What Teachers Can Do (2003), Into Focus, Understanding and Creating Middle School Readers (1998). Beers co-edited Books for You in 2001, and Your Reading in 1996. Beers has also contributed articles to English Journal, Voices from the Middle, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and School Library Journal.

Carol Jago, NCTE President-Elect, is a literacy coach at Santa Monica High School and co-director of the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA.

She has served as a member of the NCTE Resolutions Committee, Commission on Literature, Secondary Section, Editorial Board, and Affiliates Committee.

Jago writes and speaks on literature, including teaching the classics, writing, and the reading/writing connection. Her many publications include the following: Nikki Giovanni in the Classroom (NCTE, 1999); Alice Walker in the Classroom (NCTE, 2000); With Rigor for All: Teaching the Classics to Contemporary Students (Heinemann, 2000); Beyond Standards: Excellence in the High School Classroom (Boynton/Cook, 2001), Classics in the Classroom: Designing Accessible Literature Lessons (2004).

NCTE Vice President Yvonne Siu-Runyan

Yvonne Siu-Runyan is professor emertia from the University of Northern Colorado. Formerly, Siu-Runyan was a classroom teacher for grades K-12; a district reading specialist and language arts coordinator for Boulder Valley Public Schools; and participated in, as well as chaired, NCTE’s Elementary Section Steering Committee.

Siu-Runyan believes that “Stories matter!” and that “Literacy should empower all its citizens – the young and the seasoned – to learn about the world around us, and question the status quo, uncover social inequalities and injustices, and take social action.”

Siu-Runyan has published articles in several literary magazines including Language Arts, The Reading Teacher; Journal of Reading, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literature, and School Talk. She has also written the “Forward: Notable books for the Global Society – the Beginnings” in Breaking Boundaries with Global Literature for IRA and “Asian and Pacific Island Literature,” in Adventuring with Books, 13th edition for NCTE.

NCTE Past President Kathleen Blake Yancey

Kathleen Blake Yancey is Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English at Florida State University, where she directs the doctoral program in rhetoric and composition.

Yancey served as the 2004 Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) and as Chair of the College Section of NCTE from 1998 to 2001. A Past President of The Council of Writing Program Administrators, she co-founded the journal Assessing Writing and co-edited it for 7 years, and in 2003, she co-founded the National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research, which she continues to co-direct.

Yancey is the author, editor, or coeditor of over 50 chapters and articles and of eight books: Portfolios in the Writing Classroom (1992), Voices on Voice (1994), Assessing Writing Across the Curriculum (1997), Situating Portfolios (1997), Reflection in the Writing Classroom (1998), Self-Assessment and Development in Writing (2000), Electronic Portfolios (2001), and Teaching Literature as Reflective Practice (2004).